Metal filing-cabinet



W. CHIPPERFIELD.

METAL FILING CABINET.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13. I919.

Patented Sept. 21, 1920,

W. CHIPPERFIELD.

METAL FILING CABINET.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13, 1919.

1 53,452. Patented Sept- 21, 1920.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

J44; f -ii...

W. CHIPPERF|ELD.

METAL FILING CABINET, APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13. I9f9.

Patentd Sept. 21,1920.

14 4 6 SHEETSSHEET 3.

I /1' Y /6 l W i W. CHIPPERFIELD.

METAL FILING CABINET. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 15. 1919.

Patented Sept 21, 1920.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 4 W. CHIPPERFIEtD.

METAL FILING CABINET.

I APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13. 1919- 6 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

I II

W. CHIPPERFIELD.

' METAL FILING CABINET.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13, 1919.

' Pat entedSept 21, 1920.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 6.

II W :1 1]

Be it known that 'nrn'rsn STA WALTER, cHxrrnnrrn-nn, or HORNOHURCH,ENGLAND, essienon'rro some LiMITED,

or ennon, ENGLAND,

A COMPANY OT GREAT BRITAIN.

, jMn'r n Furnaces river.

fissaasa To ail whomit 'mayconcc m: w

I, WVALTER GI-IIIPEB FIELD, a subject of the King oflGreat Britain,residing at Kinkora, Great Nelmes, 'Hornchurch, in the county of Essex,England, have invented new and useful Improvements in'MetalFiling-Cabinets and'in the Construction of Sliding Drawers Therefor, ofwhich the following is a specification,

The present invention relates to improvements in the constructionofmetalcases for containing shelves, drawers. and the. like,

and further relates to'the construction of 'shdmg or other drawers orvreceptacles to' be contained therein. V 7 a In such metal structuressome difficulties are experienced in the packing and transport of samefrom place to place, and'it would therefore be of considerable advantageto provide a satisfactory construction by which the parts composing thestructure could be disassembled into convenient sections for package andtransport,'and then the parts readily assembled and connectedtogether;'but to carrythis out successfully certain essential conditionshave to be pro vided for, as for instance the assembling of the parts ofthe structure so that it willcomprise a rigid whole, which must becapable of being effected with little-if any mechani cal skill,so thatit must not be necessary in so assembling to bend any parts, or toemploy screws, bolts or pins, and having been so erected the structuremust be rigid and substantial. V '7 The present invention providesconstructions by which the above requirements can be efficiently carriedout; Q E

A primary feature of this invention consists in means,'ashereafter'described, by which a sheet metal structure can be built up ofa plurality of separate sheets connected together substantially edge toedge, and to this endthe edges of the sheets are so formed that theywill engage and interlock at the requisite angles to each other,generally at right, angles.

According to this portion of the inven-,

tion the edges of two plates of metal are formed so'that one edge of afirst plate composing for instance the back of a' case as first hereinstated, is bent over at about right angles to its main surface to form aflange, said flange being formed or pro vided with tongues, or inwardprojections- Application filed November 13, 1})19. Serial No. 337,831.

, plate.

Specification bf Iletters Patent. Patented Sept, 1920.

such as pins for instance, extending in a plane parallel with thesurface-of'the first plate, slots being formed through the niain wall ofsaid first plate; the. second plate is formed with projecting tongueson"its edge to take intosaid slots in :the .main wallof the first plate,such engagement being effected when saidtwo plates are at a properrelative angle. Slots or holes are formed through theawall of the secondplate in such positions rthat whensaid second plate is the edge oftheflange of the first plate will enter slots or holes inthe wallof thesecond plate, whereby said. plates will be firmly connected togetherwhen maintained at 'a proper relative angle to each other, and can beWll'ih equal readiness disconnected when such relative angle is changed.Ina preferred constructions'aid first plate ,brought'to the requiredangle with the first plate, 'sald tongues or inward projections on isbent over at right angles to its main surface to form a flange at aboutright angles thereto, and the flange is again bent over to form achannel, and the bent over edge forming the edge of the channel is cutaway to produce the tongues which extend in a plane parallel withzthesurface of said first In a rectangular structure or casing builtaccording to this invention and adapted to contain say sliding drawers,and where the rearward vertical edges of the sidev plates are connectedby tongues entering slots as above stated, the forward vertical edges ofthe side plates are bent outwardly and cut away to produce tongues and afront frame is provided having slots in its rearward'ly in such a,casing, and to other like struc-- tures It will be observed that nofurther fixture of-the parts to hold them together is re- 1105 quiredorcalled for by this invention, and a rigid structure is produced; that isto say, a tongue on the first part merely enters a slot inthe secondpart and does not extend through and beyond that slot, and a tongue,

on the second part enters a slot in the first part, and none of thetongues extends through and beyond the slots, as has been proposed inconnectingsheet' metal structures where tongues on one part have passedthrough slots in a plate and extended beyond the opposite face of theplate and been "retained in. such plates by pins] passed through theextending tongues.

The invention will be further described .with. reference to theaccompanying draw- .ings, whereon Figurel. 1s ahorizontal sec- Figs. 5to 13 sufliciently show the. invention appliedtothe construction ofacasing for containing sliding drawers, Fig. 5. beingia sectional frontelevation, Fig. 6. a sectional side elevation, and Fig; 7. a rearelevation of the upper part of thecasing. Fig. 8. is

.a perspective view, and Fig. 9. is a vertical section on the line A.A.Of Fig. 8. of a front frame. Fig. 10 is ahorizontalsection of thecase, Fig. 11 is a horizontal section through one side of the frontframe showing the side plate interlocked therewith,

and drawn to a larger scale than Fig. 10,

and Fig. 12 is a front elevation of the front vertical edge of the sideplate. F ig. 13 shows a portion of the top of the case in section and ameans for securing same.

F ig. 14 is a vertical section of one of the drawers for such a case,shown in vertical section, and Fig. 15' is a sectional plan view of thesame.

Referring firstly to Figs. 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings, onevertical edge of a sheet metal plate 1 of a rectangular case is bentover at right angles to its main surface, and .the flange 2 is furtherbent at 3 to form a channel; the rear wall ,of' the channel of the backplate 1 is formed with slots 4: at distances apart, see Fig. 3'. and theforward wall of the channel composed of thebent out edge 3: of the metalis cut away at parts so as to produce laterally extending tongues 5, thetongues 5, alternating with the slots 4.

One edge ofthe side plate 6, Fig. 2. is

7 formed with tongues 7 to enter the slots 4 in the rear wall of thechannel of the back plate 1, and near the rear edge of the side plate 6.slots 8 are formed to receive the tongues 5 on the forward wall 3 ofthe channel of the back plate 1. The tongues 7 of the side plate 6Vcanthen be entered into the slots 4; of the back plate 1 when the plane ofthe side plate 6 is at an angle 6 will. be connected together. withoutthe necessity of bending, screwing or bolting either part.

Moreover the tongues on one plate enter the slots in the other plate asdescribed, but

do not project through and beyond the slots on the opposite side of therespective plates,

or at all events to any appreciable extent,

and it is generally not desirable that the tongues should project beyondthe surfaces of the plate in which they are entered; in such aconnection between tw'orplates' according to this invention, one plate,such as 6 Figs. lto 4, is bent to form' abead 9 which it has been foundimproves the appearance of the structure. 7

- The application-of the invention to the construction of a sheetmetalcasing for containing sliding drawers will now be described withreference to Figs. 5 to 13 of the drawings. r V I The edges of the backplate 1 are connected to the rear edges of the side plate 6 by thedouble interlocking tongues and slots described with reference to Figs.1 to 1.

The forward edge of'each side plate 6, see Figs. 10,11 and 12, is bentoutwardly from, the structure at about right angles and cut away atparts to produce tongues 10, Fig. 12, and a front frame 11, see Figs. 8and 9, is provided of angle section, one flange of the frame 11extending parallel to the side plate 6, and the said angle flange isslotted at 12 so that by bending the sides 6 toward each other andinserting their edges into the angle frame 11, the tongues 10 on theside plate 6 will enter the slots 12 of the angle frame 11, and thus thestructure is connected together composed of a back 1, two sides 6 and afront open frame 11 of angle section. 7

The front angle frame 11, if the case is to contain drawers or be fittedwith shelves, has a suitable number of bars 13 also of angle section,fixed horizontally at proper distances apart and extending between the.

vertical members of the front frame,"each horizontal member 13 havingits front flange vertical, flush with the front of the front frame, andits horizontal flange proceeding from the lower edge of .the

fitted interiorly in the, case so that its edges 1% against the interiorwalls and against the front vertical flange of the front'frame,

I bar, horizontal and inwardly directed. I

which may 7 be 1 plates 6 are prevented from leaving the slots 12.- ofthe front frame-11 into which they have been entered.

Title such a structure as. described horizontal, divisions, or as .theymay be termed shelves (not shown), may be. fitted-in; the

structure, said shelves being, made of sheet metal with the edgesflanged downwardly, the flanges fitting in surface contact'with the sideplates G-andfthe back plate 1 of the structure and withthe upstandingflange of the angle bar 13 of the front frame 11. The side and backflanges of each shelf may be formed with downwardly extending tongueswhich may be received, when the shelf is in position, in slots formed inindented pockets made in the side and back plates 6 and 1', so'that theshelves themselves also form structures which-serve to augment therigidity of the case.'

The top 14 of thecase, Fig. 6, is composed of a metal plate having itsedges flanged downwardly; the rear edge of the top 14 at 15 Fig. 6,. isconnected with the back plate 1 by the double interlocking tongues andslots according tothis invention, the top 14 being applied at an angleto the horizontal so as to cause the interconnection of the tongues withthe slots as the top 14 is brought to the horizontal position shownwhere its front edge rests upon the frame 11. v

This top member is secured in positionby a plate 16, the sides of whichare flanged downward and outward as at 17 Fig. 13 so as to take underinwardly and upwardly flanged side plates 6, the plates 16 beingtherefore inserted from the interior of the case. The plate 16carrieslateral bolts 18 which pass through the flange of the plate 16 andthrough the flanged over tops of the side plates 6.

The drawers may be constructed in'a manner similar to that described forthe case; thus by way of ex'ample and as shown at Figs. 14 and 15, thevertical edges of the back plate 19 are united to the rear verticaledges of the side plates 20 by double interlocking tongues and slots asalready described, while the forward vertical edges of the side plates20 are bent outwardly as shown at Fig. 15, so as to enter channels 21formed in the front plate of the drawer.

The bottom plate of the drawer is similarly connected that is the rearedge of the bottom plate 22 is connected to the lower edge of the backplate 19'at 23 by double interlocking tongues and slots as alreadydescribed, while forward and lateral downward flanges of the bottomplate 22 enter the lower channel of the front of the drawer, and alsoenter channels formed in the lower edges of the sides of the drawer, andthe ready carriedout. insucb structures. j

drawers and the like; connecting the edges ing devices: to permit the"drawers to slide easily into and. outxof'the'casing as is :al-

I desire to secure'by LetterslPat'ent of: the United States: is asfollows:- 1 1 1. In the construction of metal cases,

of two plates of metal employed in such structures at or about rightangles to each other, by bending the edge'of the first plate to form aflange at about right angles there-. to, forming or providing saidflange with tongues orinward projections extending in a plane parallelwith the surface of said first plate, and forming slots through the mainwall ofsaid first plate, forming the secondplate with projecting tongueson its edge to take into said slots in the main wall of the first plate,such engagement beingeffected when said two plates are at a properrelative angle, and forming slots or holes through the wall of thesecond plate in such positions that when said second plate is brought tothe required angle with said first plate, said tongues or inwardprojections on the edge of the flange of the firstplate will enter theslots or holes in the main-wall of the second *plate, whereby the saidplates will be firmly connected together when maintained at a properrelative angle to each other and can be with equal readinessdisconnected when such relative angle is changed.

i 2. A metalv structure, comprising a back plate having its side edgesbent upon themselves to form a channel at each sideof the plate, saidplate being provided in one side wall of said channel with a pluralityof slots,

the opposite side wall of the channel being cut away to form a pluralityof tongues,.and side plates each having one edge cut away to form aplurality of tongues adapted to en- 11 gage the slots atone side of theback plate and having a plurality of slots for engagement with thetongues of said back plate, said back plate being provided with a beadadjacent to the slots thereof. a

3. A metal structure, comprising a back plate, a pair of side plateseach connected to said'back plate along one edge thereof, said sideplates having a plurality of outwardly extending tongues at the edges.op- 1'25 posite said connection, a front structure provided at eachside edge thereof with a flange having a plurality of'slots adapted toreceive the tongues of the side plates, and a plate secured between saidflanges for re- T7 A 3' Havingthus:described'm. A lnvention what'taining the tongues in the slots.

4. A metal structure, comprising a back plate, side plates and a frontstructure secured together at their edges to form a rectangular casing,said side plates belng provided at their. upperedges with inwardly andupwardly extending. flanges, atop plate provided with downwardly andontwardly extending flanges adaptedto engage the flanges 01": the sideplates, and means for securing the fiangesof. the side plates and top I4 and provided with a top member connected at its front and rear edgeswith the casing 15 and having at its side edges downwardlyandIntestimony whereof I have signed my name to this'specification in thepresence of 20 twosubscribing witnesses v V V I f WALTER CHIP'PERF IELD;

Witnesses: I

RICHARD C; ROGERS, J. 'W. PATOHING.

